Premise: Team 7 all dealt with Sasuke's betrayal and death in different ways. Naruto became Konoha's best and somehow hardest working Hokage, Kakashi nurses a drink every night at the bar and Sakura has resorted to breaking other peoples hearts.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Author's Note: This whole entire story started off as something to lead only to KakaSaku, but things change the moment you start writing and I found that I liked this a lot more as an outlook on what happened to Team 7 after the fact. KakaSaku will probably still happen, just a lot later down the road then I had ever intended and the updates will, and I really do warn you, be extremely slow and far between. I don't think I'll ever discontinue this because I like the idea too much, but since I like the idea I don't want to splurge out chapters according to a deadline. However, I do have discontinuing habits so... that is the only warning. Enjoy!
Chapter One: Breakfast for the Broken
"Sakura-chan, do you have any...?" Naruto threw open the door with a loud bang. A stack of papers was balanced in his hands and a pen was held between his lips as his fingers went back to flipping through the files. He looked up when he heard a yowl, "HOLY SHIT! Kiba?" Naruto shouted as he stared from the door of Sakura's bedroom. The papers slid off of his hand in a cascade and splayed themselves messily all over Sakura's bedroom floor. Kiba, upon the entrance of the Rokudaime Hokage, promptly rolled out of the bed he was occupying with the pink haired kunoichi and landed on the floor with a loud thud. Naruto's eye twitched as one of Kiba's legs remained in the air and convulsed for a second before following the rest of his body to the ground. Said pink-haired kunoichi looked up sullenly from her position on the bed. She was still under the blankets with only her bare back exposed to the whole entire world. Her front was neatly pressed into the mattress and the left side of her face was squished into her pillow. "You've got to be kidding me."
Sakura sighed and turned her face back into her pillow. "Get out of here Kiba."
"But Sakura, you said…"
"Oh, but you said you'd be out of here by dawn so whatever I said doesn't matter anymore does it?" Sakura muttered and shook her head.
Kiba gaped from his spot on the ground and Naruto thanked the heavens that the naked Inuzuka had slept on the other side and had rolled off on the other side and out of view. "Lunch tomorrow then?"
"Maybe," Sakura muttered again and turned her face to look at him in the eye, "Just get out of here for now."
"Alright Sakura, uh and good morning Naruto-sama."
"Don't call me that, I don't like it and you know it. Anyways, the lady said get out Kiba," Naruto muttered as he maturely covered his eyes with both hands. He'd seen every single male of the Konoha 12 naked at one point in his life so it shouldn't have been such a big deal, he just never wished to repeat any of those experiences… ever and plus seeing Kiba with everything hanging out would just remind him that everything hanging had once been inside… and he stopped his thought process right there. Naruto moved to the side and heard Kiba rush out of the door apparently pulling his pants on.
"Ah, good bye then Naruto-sa… Naruto," Kiba shouted back as the door to the apartment slammed close.
Peaking out between his fingers, Naruto sighed in relief when he noticed that Kiba had at least taken the care to not step on any of his paper work. "So let's start that wonderfully exciting morning over…" Naruto muttered as he bit his tongue and stared at the just recently organized papers.
"Let's," Sakura replied as she bent her elbows and braced herself on the mattress. Pushing herself up, Sakura let her long hair cascade over her right shoulder and brush softly against her arm. The dawn light shining through her window and onto her body caused her to glow ever so slightly and Naruto had to marvel at his best friend.
Naruto kneeled down and gathered up his paper work frowning more as he tried to reorganize them into their proper file folders. "Good morning Sakura!" He chirped out gruffly.
Sakura sighed and pushed the blanket off of her and slid her feet off of the bed. Naruto didn't take to modesty with her as he did with the rest of his generation; after all they had been living together for a couple years now. "So what did you need Naruto?" Sakura asked as she pulled on the robe that was hanging on her chair for mornings such as this. Almost every morning.
"I was going to ask you for a working pen, but honestly, I don't think that's the issue anymore," Naruto replied as he picked up the pen that he had been chewing on and tossed it into the garbage. He gave the scattered paperwork a halfhearted glare before he peered up at Sakura with the biggest eyes he could muster.
Sakura giggled and knelt in front of him and picked up half of the paperwork that was strewn across the floor and set it down on her desk to reorganize. Naruto braced himself on his knees and stood to walk over and stand beside her. "Give me your pile," Sakura muttered as she quickly pushed and pulled through the sheets with the dexterity of a professional sorter.
"Sorry about the mess."
"Sorry about the shock."
"All's fair, I didn't knock," Naruto grinned.
"You never knock, it's like you want to see naked men," Sakura laughed dryly and slapped the last file on top of the newly formed pile along with one of her pens.
Naruto scrunched up his nose in distain at Sakura's joke as she gave him a wink, "So… Inuzuka Kiba?"
"What about him?" Sakura asked with a raised eyebrow as she pulled at the hair that had gotten trapped in the collar of her robe.
Naruto just laughed, "Just thought that you would go for someone better smelling."
Sakura smiled and gently punched him on the shoulder; she was the only one who could get away with it now that he had an Anbu squad watching him nearly 24/7. Also she was the head of that squad, so it was the greatest moot point of all moot points. However, she tried her best to hold back every once in a while when it came to her best friend; it wasn't the greatest impression to the other nations if the Rokudaime Hokage was routinely sent flying to the other side of his own village. "You think everyone smells bad," Sakura laughed.
Naruto tapped his nose before Sakura grabbed it and wiggled it around, "Comes with having a fox in you," Naruto sneezed as Sakura let go before his mucus got all over her.
"Do I smell bad?"
"Is there any way to answer that correctly?"
"Sure, I'd just think that my best friend was constantly sniffing me and that is a little bit frightening," Sakura replied with a grin and walked past him with her hand trailing on his shoulder, "Get what ever you can get done while I shower. I'll make you some breakfast after."
"Ramen?"
"What else do you eat?" Sakura replied over her shoulder as she stuck her tongue out at him and slipped into the bathroom adjoining her room.
Naruto shook his head as his grin disappeared into a sad smile. He hefted the stack of paperwork back into his hands effortlessly and trapped the rolling, working pen beneath his nose. Strolling out of the open bedroom door he walked to his initial destination, the dining room, and once again spilled the files over the large wooden desk albeit neatly this time. Pulling out the chair Naruto took the pen between his fingers and flipped it as he sat down. Looking up at the hallway where the bedrooms were and the running sound of water was still playing its sad song, Naruto drew in a deep sigh and pulled the first folder off of the top of the pile.
Like any normal and previous Hokages, the council of elders had offered him a place to stay in the Hokage tower where all the amenities of day to day life would be regularly provided to him and where he would constantly be at work even while he was sleeping. It was for this reason that Sakura had asked him to split rent on a pretty spacious apartment, which she had been planning to move into after he left her at the dingy one they had been sharing already, and that he had agreed to the offer so eagerly. He was the type who would rather bring work home then make work, home.
However, it also meant that he had to watch his best friend as she continued to disintegrate right before his very eyes.
He was sure that Sakura had asked him to split rent on housing again, which she could easily afford by herself, for the main reason of watching over him and making sure that he wouldn't over work himself as the youngest Hokage in existence. She had been right, of course, because this was Sakura he was talking about and she was always right when it came to him.
Which was also why he had appointed her the captain of the mandatory stalking squad, as he liked to call it. That way he could sleep knowing that only his pink haired best friend was around instead of five Anbu he probably barely knew and Sai. Sai, his now best buddy, was on the stalking squad too, second longest shift second to Sakura who was never really off duty anyways, but even imagining that boy watching him sleep at night irked him to no end. After all, best buddy or not, Sai was still creepy Sai.
Sakura, he didn't know if it was because it was her job or if because she was just being herself, it was probably that one, had attacked him on several occasions when he had nearly worked himself to the point of falling asleep at a wooden desk, which should have been near impossible considering the Kyuubi and his chakra still in him, but Naruto guessed that that fact just emphasized her point.
As captain of an Anbu squad meant to protect him, she sure was different from the norm, taking him out for ramen at Ichiraku's constantly just to make sure that he stayed, "Naruto, Konoha's best Hokage evarrrr! Well second to Shishou that is." He really hoped that she had been kidding during that last part because as good of a fighter as Tsunade had been, she had been a terrible Hokage. Shizune had probably been technically the 'Hokage' in the time that the busty blond had ruled over the village. The moment that he had turned twenty-two, the busty blond had basically shoved the title down his throat, along with all the paper work she had not completed, not that he needed it to be shoved, but that was just how scary Tsunade had been; she could make getting his dream job sound like a death sentence. "Old hag is probably gambling away all of her retirement money…" Naruto snickered as he placed aside the first file.
But now, not that he ever hadn't been, Naruto was happy that Sakura cared so much about him because it allowed him to continue to watch over her as well. This was probably the third man he had found in her bed this week. He seriously wondered if they could smell each other while rolling around on her sheets, he could smell all of them lingering on the furniture in the living room after all. Stop thought process, command, now.
The water turned off in her bathroom. Naruto shook his head; Sakura probably cleaned the sheets every single day just to keep this habit of hers going. As bad of a habit as it was.
"Still sure you just want ramen?" Sakura asked as she appeared out of her bedroom door with still just the fluffy pink robe on and her wet, messy hair piled on top of her head.
"Yes, please," Naruto grinned as he set aside the second file. He hated going through D-rank missions, he had done every single one of these. Why were people still requesting to paint that retched fence and how was that cat still even alive enough to keep going missing after all these years?
Sakura smiled at him as she pattered into the kitchen and pulled out an obtusely huge pot. She filled it half way with water before setting it over the stove and turning on the fire. "Five bowls of ramen for breakfast coming right up," Sakura chirped as she trotted back into her bedroom and closed the door behind her.
Naruto listened as Sakura rifled through her drawer of clothes and her closet before turning back to the third report he was going through.
Sakura didn't often like to don the armor of the Anbu, whether or not she was on duty, because she wasn't really part of that service. She had only taken that title to be able to protect him, but Anbu was nothing more to her. She took no missions Anbu related out of the village and had even refused to get any sort of codename on top of the non Anbu related ones including, "That pink haired bitch!" or whore… or what ever else the gossip mill had spurned up in her wake. Naruto usually took care of those rumors fast, Ino even faster, actually. He took in another deep sigh before scrawling over the report with his messy, but at least legible writing.
"You're handwriting is beginning to look less like mine."
Naruto shot up from his seat with his arms up in combat mode before turning around and coming face to face with Hatake Kakashi. "Don't do that!" Naruto shouted as he flopped back into his seat and put his hand over his heart as heavy pants came surging out of him.
Kakashi raised an eyebrow at the boy as Naruto tipped his head back still exaggerating his breathing, "Some Hokage you are." Naruto looked like the classic damsel in distress with the back of his hand swiping over his forehead to wipe off non-existent sweat.
"I'm the best Hokage ever!" Naruto snarled playfully as he looked back up at his sensei. "And how many times have I told you not to sneak up on me."
"Should I even be able to?"
"You're the only one who can," Naruto pouted. Even if every single one of his senses had upped in all this time, he still could not locate this shinobi for his life. Kakashi was still as mysterious and recluse as ever.
It was the only reason that he hadn't also been recruited to be part of the stalking squad. Naruto could never keep him around long enough when the topic came up and the copy nin was adamant in serving Konoha outside the gates instead of inside, something about 'making work home' he had said.
Naruto thought him insane, guarding him wasn't work; it was a whole entire load of freaking fun! Everyone had fun around the almighty and handsome Rokudaime! Naruto had quit asking a month or two into his reign, if the man wanted to join the freaking fun stalking squad now, let him grovel for the position.
"I'll take that as a compliment now that you can beat me in a fair match," Kakashi stated with his eyebrow still raised as he took the seat that was adjacent to the Rokudaime Hokage.
"I can take you in an unfair match too Kakashi," Naruto grinned. He had been forced to drop the 'sensei' when he had taken on the position of Rokudaime almost three years ago. It had taken him a while, but now he could slip out the name without the honorific.
Kakashi shook his head in mock exasperation before leaning back on the back two legs of his chair. He looked down the hallway towards the bedroom and waved at nothing. "Good morning Sakura!"
"Good morning Kakashi-senpai!" Sakura shouted back from her room as she pulled on her shirt and gathered her hair back to the base of her neck. She pulled her hitae-ate into place and smiled at herself in the mirror.
"Who was it this time?" Kakashi asked as he turned back to Naruto who was now routing through the forth mission report. Kakashi had propped his feet up on the table to stabilize himself and had his hands crossed behind his head.
"Inuzuka Kiba," Naruto scoffed as he reached out for his fifth mission report. He was getting into the mode and soon enough all of his mission reports would be done within Naruto record time.
"My dogs smell better than he does."
"I know right?"
"Are you insulting my choice in scents again?" Sakura asked as she leaned against her doorframe with a smile on her face, "Pakkun better smell better than Kiba, he uses the same shampoo as I do after all."
"You still use that shampoo?" Kakashi asked with a snort. He knew of course, he could smell it on her, but he had thought that she had some womanly pride left in her to at least not admit it.
"It's a good shampoo that smells heavenly," Sakura muttered darkly before smiling radiantly. She shook her head and walked back into the kitchen and peaked into the giant pot.
"Just because you don't have a keen sense of smell," Kakashi stated while tapping his nose.
Sakura rolled her eyes and smiled, "That's where Naruto got it from." Kakashi looked over as Naruto who just rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, "That too."
Kakashi laughed and rubbed the back of his neck, "So how is little Sakura-chan this morning?"
"Apparently I smell like dog."
"You don't smell like dog anymore Sakura-chan," Naruto grinned as he threw another finished report onto the pile.
"No, you just smell like Pakkun," Kakashi teased.
Sakura gave him a sour expression as she deemed the water hot enough to begin Naruto's breakfast. "Do you want breakfast Kakashi?"
"Yes ple…"
"Well I'm not giving you any."
"That's mean Sakura-chan."
"Don't play that card on me, only Naruto can pull that card on me."
Naruto grinned at Kakashi momentarily as the older man gave Naruto a mock glare, "Spare an old man from an empty stomach."
Sakura suddenly turned on him with wide eyes. She looked hilarious with her wooden spoon pointed at him like a katana, but he was never going to tell her she looked like a 'terrifying' housewife… or else she's truly become terrifying, "You ARE old!"
Kakashi blinked, "That was kind of mean."
Sakura shook her head, "No, no, I mean that you're turning forty soon!"
Kakashi sighed, "Don't remind me."
Sakura just giggled and rolled her eyes. "Eggs and bacon?"
"Yes please," Kakashi replied as he took his feet off of the dining table and peaked over Naruto's shoulder, "Ah, that looks more like my writing." Naruto grunted and threw two more files into the 'finished' pile. Thoughts on him were invading his mind again and he had to get them out. Sometimes, no all the time, he wished that Kakashi's now almost natural smell didn't personify those thoughts even more but the man couldn't help it just like Naruto couldn't help but throw five more mission reports into the 'finished' pile and Sakura couldn't help but be "that pink haired whore".
A smack was placed over Kakashi's head and although it was lighter than it would have been to anyone else, Kakashi had to never admit, that it still hurt. "Don't turn him into you. We need a good, hard working, punctual Hokage."
Naruto sighed in relief, he didn't hate his former sensei, the total opposite actually, but he couldn't stand that smell any longer. His hand was cramping already and he feared that Sakura would punch him if he broke her pen… again.
"Hey I was a candidate!"
"Last resort, desperate times call for desperate measures."
"When did you become so mean, Sakura-chan."
Another hit over the head, "I said not to play that card with me."
"So mean."
Sakura just rolled her eyes again with her hands on her hip, "Give me your head."
"Why Sakura…"
Sakura snatched his head and held his neck with her arm and torso as the two front legs of his seat hit the floor with a loud bang. Kakashi flailed his arms pathetically before giving up and slumping into her hold. "I hate that you've become so strong…"
"How bad is it? I saw Naruto wrinkle his nose," Kakashi threw Naruto a dirty look as Naruto gave him a weak apologetic smile.
"All the lights are a bit brighter than usual and you are obtusely loud."
"I'm always obtusely loud," Sakura muttered softly as her other hand began to glow green. She passed it over his forehead while brushing his messy bangs out of his face and he relaxed a whole deal more than he had been before. "Is that better now?"
"Yes."
"We know you do it Kakashi, no use in hiding it," Sakura muttered softly as she released him and walked into the kitchen to retrieve all of the wonders that she had cooked. Kakashi looked up from his position and frowned slightly as Sakura slowly walked back with a slow and heart broken sway of her hips. "I'd rather at least calm your hangovers and fix your liver if I can't stop you."
"You're one to talk."
"Just don't Kakashi," Naruto muttered as he finished off his pile while not partaking in the conversation. He had gone through a mini record of thirty reports in the time before breakfast. He was finally done for the morning and that was a good thing never mind the forty before the useless pen and the male friend in his best female friend's bed. He raised his blue eyes to look into the lone gray eye of his former sensei. Kakashi shook his head in remorse as Sakura sat herself down at the table with a small, weak and Sai-like smile. "We all have our own vices."
Kakashi turned back to his food and pulled down his alcohol-ridden mask, Sakura picked up her fork shakily as she rubbed her thighs together and Naruto tossed his mass amounts of mission reports on the floor. "Itadakimasu."